November 06, 2012

How to Know You Are Part of the Political Problem

"...those who wish to know in what direction they are going would do well to give their attention not to the politicians but to the philosophers, for what they propound today will be the faith of tomorrow." ~ I.M. Bochenski

In light of today's US Presidential Election, I thought I'd take the opportunity to provide some reflective and introspective points to be sure my readers find themselves above the problems of politics rather than immersed within them.

In the event you did not already know this nearly meaningless bit of information about your humble author, I do not care for politicians, at least not any in the recent past.

My favorite president of the United States is George Washington, primarily because he is the only president (to my knowledge) who never plotted or planned to be president; he belonged to no political party; and he did not ask for any compensation for serving the country.

Fast forward to today and we have a broken system; but I don't entirely blame the politicians; I believe that separation, categorization, right vs wrong, dichotemy, and ideology are all the collective antithesis of the values America was founded upon. In short, our primary enemy is ego, not each other.

Therefore, in this spirit, I hope you'll find this impartial but introspective list either somewhat enlightening or somewhat entertaining (but not in any way partisan or personal):

You Know You're Part of the Political Problem If...

You see compromise as failure.

You vote against rather than for.

You've ever repeated a political talking point without substantiation.

You place blame or give credit to a president for your total well being.

You're quick to identify differences but ignore the similarities among political parties.

Your candidate didn't win and you hope the opposing candidate fails as president.

You teach your children that only one political party can be "right" and therefore the others are wrong.

You believe "Better off than you were four years ago" is measured by money, matarial wealth or social status and it is the basis for your voting decisions.

Can you think of others? As I said in a recent post, The Illusion of Language and Politics: What the world needs is not a great leader but rather more individuals
who have a firm grasp on reality. When there are many who do not
recognize illusion, there are many illusionists.

Vote (or not); be safe; be well; recognize illusion; and be authentic.

I don't mind descent, even if it is unsubstantiated or out of the bounds of good reason. Therefore, I won't delete your response. Feel free to follow-up with examples of US presidents that may act as you suggest in your comment.

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